Rise Of Islam Essay

During the 6th century CE, there was a power vacuum throughout Europe and Asia. The great Sassanid and Byzantine empires had been greatly weakened after years of warring against each other. Western Europe was languishing in the dark ages, the once mighty Western Roman Empire having faded due to the barbarian invasions. It was upon this stage that the religion of Islam rose and became one of the greatest historical phenomena the world has ever seen. Islam, whose followers are called Muslims, began with the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, who lived in the Arabian town of Mecca during the 5th and 6th centuries CE. The location of the birth of Islam would prove crucial to the influence that Islam would later wield in world history. Since

The early days of Islam were marked by war, as Islam expanded rapidly throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Due to the weakened state of the Sassanid Empire, the Muslims were able to rapidly defeat and subjugate the Sassanid territories. The Muslims also pushed into the Byzantine Empire, conquering and annexing some of their land as well. But the most important conquest was that of Jerusalem, which later sparked the series of wars known as the crusades, the holy wars that the European Christians took part in to take back the holy land of Jerusalem. The Crusades were a very interesting case in regards to Islam as a historical phenomenon. At the time of the Crusades, Europe had still been in the dark ages. But when the crusaders came into contact with the Muslim armies, it seems that they were introduced to several new scientific ideas previously unknown to the west. This influx of scientific ideas indirectly led to the renaissance some years later. The rise of Islam is also of significance because it set the stage for religious conflicts in that region that continue even to this day. Replacing the early caliphates was the Ottoman Empire, which engaged in many wars against rivals, who were later replaced by the various Arab countries that are still to this day constantly in a state of political turmoil, and antagonistic to many western